This study investigates consumer experiences and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions in luxury brand pop-up stores, including standalone and department store setups. Grounded in experience economy theory, this study examines the experiential elements based on the types of pop-up stores and the relationships among consumer experience, pop-up store image, and WOM intentions for each type. Data were collected from 300 visitors to luxury brand pop-up stores between January and July 2023 and analyzed using Smart PLS 4.0. The findings reveal several key insights. First, standalone pop-up stores offer educational and escapist experiences, while pop-ups within department stores have a single identified factor of consumer experience. Second, regardless of the store type, luxury pop-up store experiences significantly influence pop-up image perceptions. Third, luxury pop-up store image drives WOM intentions for both standalone and department store pop-ups. Notably, the unique image significantly impacts solely department store pop-ups and does not influence standalone pop-ups. Moreover, image perceptions in both pop-up store types do not significantly affect brand WOM intentions. Finally, WOM intentions for pop-up stores significantly influence WOM intentions for brands. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of consumer experiences in luxury pop-up stores, providing practical insights for stakeholders in the luxury brand industry to enhance pop-up store image perceptions and WOM intentions.

Digital technologies that travel between the real and virtual worlds are rapidly adopted by many fashion brands for building virtual fashion spaces. This study aims to investigate the consumer experience of the components of the virtual fashion show and their effect on virtual fashion space, perceived benefits, perceived risk, and behavioral intention in the immersive fashion virtual space. The stimulus for this study was selected as the Prada virtual reality (VR) fashion show which is one of the most active in the VR field. The influence of perceived virtual fashion space and the moderating effect of VR sickness and fashion innovativeness are discussed. This study provides implications about consumer perception and behavior using VR in the context of virtual fashion space for researchers and practitioners.

Sustainability rears its head in the current online marketing and virtual store -research. Sustainability considerations involve pro-environmental-, social- and economic values as well as future generations and continuous innovation (Hanss and Böhm, 2012). Central in the sustainability research is sustainable consumer behavior, which has been found to be subject of intensions varying across different types of consumers, issues, and product categories (O’Rourke and Ringer, 2016). Determining consumers’ general egoistic, altruistic and biospheric values (e.g., De Groot and Steg 2008; Steg et al., 2014) have resulted quite complex and not always so generalizable structural models for sustainable behavior. While value -research has been dominant in determining the sustainability intensions and eventual behavior, there are relatively little solid theories and understating about different psychological processes behind sustainable behavior. Furthermore, the consideration of multiple sustainable consumer behavior outcomes seems to be limited, which can also hamper the development of models and theories (see e.g., Hulland and Houston 2021).

With the development of WEB 3.0 and the metaverse, the emergence of chat GPT, and AI is attracting attention across all industries. AI technologies such as robotics, advanced analytics, and in-store applications created a sensation in the fashion industry, as well as created an exceptional customer experience. In this study, fashion AI types (e.g. AI models: generative, conversational, AI applications: design, production, sales, retail, marketing) and case analysis (e.g. concepts, characteristics, benefits, risks) are examined. Consumer experiences with fashion AI are also discussed for future research directions. Finally, the Fashion AI research framework and research agenda are discussed for future research.

Metaverse provides technology for people to connect, find communities, and grow businesses. Its sales have seen growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an era of metaverse, luxury brands such as Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Balenciaga, and Dolce & Gabbana are trying to adapt to new changes. They launched NFT(Non-fungible token) goods, digital fashion, and virtual luxury goods on various metaverse platforms such as Zepeto, Roblox, and Fortnite. For example, Ralph Lauren in Zepeto provides various types of luxury items, immerses in virtual performances, and has a game plot interaction. As people immerse themselves in the Metaverse, they feel happy from various activities—such as watching advertisements, drinking juice, and playing with friends. Thus, what factors should be considered when the luxury brands manage the metaverse?

Metaverse blends the physical and virtual worlds, transforming the customer's shopping experience. This study aims to identify the psychological mechanism in the metaverse environment and the relationship between metaverse experience and consumer happiness. To identify metaverse experiences, both behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were conducted. In a behavioral study, we found that consumers' happiness increased when participants were in an immersive metaverse space. In the fMRI study, we found greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and lateral occipital cortex (LOC) regions in the high level of the immersive metaverse and found a positive relationship with consumers' happiness. This paper is the first attempt in marketing to provide an integrative brain map for the metaverse experience. This brain map helps marketers better understand the consumer experience. This study suggests that only in the immersive metaverse space where virtual and physical experiences interact can consumers become one with the virtual space and maximize customer experience values.

본 논문은 가정간편식(Home Meal Replacement, HMR) 이용경험과 만족도가 HMR 구매확대의향에 미치는 영향을 분석하는 데 목적이 있다. 이를 위해 2021년 실시한 가공식품 소비자태도조사(온라인조사) 데이터를 사용하였다. 분석 결과 HMR 이용 경험이 많을수록 향후 HMR 구매확대 가능성이 높은 것으로 나타났다. HMR에 대한 요인별 만족도의 경우, 맛과 편의성에 대한 만족도가 높을수록 HMR 구매의향이 높은 것으로 분석되었다. 따라서 식품 제조사와 유통사들은 특히 맛과 편의성에 대한 만족도를 중점적으로 높이기 위해 제품 개발 및 마케팅 전략을 수립할 필요가 있다.

Consumers exposed to aesthetic brands can not only experience sensory pleasure but also lead to strong customer loyalty. Furthermore, aesthetic brands can expect to lead to the overall experience of the brand. They include the brand's sensory, emotional, behavioral and intellectual experience. Since aesthetic brands related to the sensory representation of customers, consumers exposed to aesthetic brands can expect to have a meaningful impact on the overall experience of the brand. The study will select aesthetic brands that distributed in Korea and then compare the aesthetic characteristics of each brand. It also seeks to verify the brand attractiveness, consistency, prominence and influence of brand motifs on the brand's sensual, emotional, behavioral and intellectual experience. To verify the influence between variables proposed in this study, we would like to conduct a multiple regression analysis. SAS 9.4 used to verify the hypotheses proposed in this study. Cronbach's ɑ measure to verify reliability of each measurement item. In particular, brand attractiveness and brand motif can verify empirically to confirm that they play an important role in inducing brand experience.

The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate the relationship among fashion brand experience, brand loyalty, relationship quality, and repurchase intention. The 420 survey questionnaires were distributed among the consumers in their 30s and 40s who had experience buy fashion brands products through convenience sampling in Seoul. Due to the reliability of data, 120 samples were discarded and 300 samples were put to actual analysis. By using SAS 9.4, data were analyzed for frequency analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis. The results of the study are as follows. First, the fashion brand experience which is consist of sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual experience had positive effects on brand satisfaction and brand trust. Second, brand trust and brand commitment and the relationship quality of brand satisfaction, only satisfaction and commitment affects brand loyalty significantly. Lastly, brand loyalty had significantly effect on repurchase intention. It presented the potential to use the brand as a strategic tool to build strong brand assets, along with providing specific ways to secure differentiated competitiveness in the fashion brand market. It is also thought to be meaningful in that we presented a practical strategy to build and strengthen a lasting bond with consumers by looking at the impact on the quality of the relationship.

Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET) has emerged as a relevant technology in the marketing environment, with increased use in the retail context (O’Brien, 2016). As its use increases, there is a need to better understand its impact on consumer behavior and the experience that it delivers. Therefore, this study proposes a research model that captures the key constructs in understanding consumer acceptance behavior of the innovative technology used in marketing and how it impacts the brand experience. The objective of this study is to examine 1) antecedents (i.e., message fit and personal innovativeness) that may impact user’s attitude toward the IVET advertisement and self-image congruence, and 2) the transfer of positive or negative IVET advertisement attitude to behavioral intention. Survey was distributed at a large Southern university in USA. Out of 213 survey completed, 143 was usable. Hypotheses were tested using the structural equation model (SEM) analysis with maximum likelihood method (AMOS 23). The results showed that message fit had no significant impact on ad attitude and self-image congruence. Personal innovativeness had positive impact on ad attitude, but not on self-image congruence. Ad attitude had no effect on self-image congruence while having significant positive impact on offline store and online store visit intentions. Lastly, self-image congruence influences both offline and online store visit intentions. The results demonstrate that evaluation of the virtual world brand experience (i.e., attitude toward the IVET advertisement) is a strong predictor of user behavior toward the brand. A consumer’s interactions with a brand in the virtual environment may provide important information about the consumer’s desire to develop a relationship with the brand in other marketing channels, and serves as an opportunity for the marketer to assist in the buying process. Further, personal characteristic such as personal innovativeness may have a significant impact on a their attitude toward the IVET marketing which further leads to consumer’s decision to visit the online and offline store. In addition, self-image congruence were found to positively affect user’s intention to visit the stores, such that consumers who perceive their brand experience as more consistent with their self-image are more likely to consider purchasing the brand in the real world. The results suggest that some consumers may tend to behave in ways that are congruent with their self-identity across marketing channels.

Despite the importance of retail atmospherics documented in the literature, little empirical research has been done on the issue of what specific aspects of retail atmospherics can enhance experiential marketing. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to compare the effect of product display (lifestyle vs. product-centric) on consumer satisfaction and retail patronage intentions. In so doing, this study examines the mediating role of hedonic shopping experiences operationalized through 3 separate subdimensions (i.e., brand experience, shopping enjoyment, and cognitive pleasure) while controlling a brand effect (i.e., testing two types of product display in a single brand context). Demminga et al. (2012) state that lifestyle display is a cross-merchandised, integrated, aesthetically attractive theme or scene through which consumers could envisage themselves in the scene or nature. On the other hand, product-centric display does not necessarily present a coherent theme. Instead, this type of product display is frequently used in a traditional retail format focuses on merchandise presentation appealing to target customers (Foster and Mclelland, 2015). This study was conducted using two product display stimuli: lifestyle and product-centric displays in the context of a specialty apparel store, Anthropologie. One image of Anthropologie was selected as a lifestyle display because it contained a thematic prop, which illustrates a natural scenario in that store. The results showed that the lifestyle display creates higher brand experience, shopping enjoyment, cognitive pleasure, satisfaction, time spent, and patronage intentions compared to the product centric display. This study provides empirical evidence supporting the importance of experiential marketing. Theoretically, this study demonstrates that lifestyle display could be applied in an apparel store. Rather than focusing only on products retailers could easily develop thematic props in a store because they are easy to set up, cost-effective, and less time-consuming. By setting up a lifestyle display, retailers could easily differentiate their brands from other competing brands.

Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET) has emerged as a relevant technology in the marketing environment, with increased use in the retail context (O’Brien, 2016). As its use increases, there is a need to better understand its impact on consumer behavior and the experience that it delivers. Therefore, this study proposes a research model that captures the key constructs in understanding consumer acceptance behavior of the innovative technology used in marketing and how it impacts the brand experience. The objective of this study is to examine 1) antecedents (i.e., message fit and personal innovativeness) that may impact user’s attitude toward the IVET advertisement and self-image congruence, and 2) the transfer of positive or negative IVET advertisement attitude to behavioral intention. Survey was distributed at a large Southern university in USA. Out of 213 survey completed, 143 was usable. Hypotheses were tested using the structural equation model (SEM) analysis with maximum likelihood method (AMOS 23). The results showed that message fit had no significant impact on ad attitude and self-image congruence. Personal innovativeness had positive impact on ad attitude, but not on self-image congruence. Ad attitude had no effect on self-image congruence while having significant positive impact on offline store and online store visit intentions. Lastly, self-image congruence influences both offline and online store visit intentions. The results demonstrate that evaluation of the virtual world brand experience (i.e., attitude toward the IVET advertisement) is a strong predictor of user behavior toward the brand. A consumer’s interactions with a brand in the virtual environment may provide important information about the consumer’s desire to develop a relationship with the brand in other marketing channels, and serves as an opportunity for the marketer to assist in the buying process. Further, personal characteristic such as personal innovativeness may have a significant impact on a their attitude toward the IVET marketing which further leads to consumer’s decision to visit the online and offline store. In addition, self- image congruence were found to positively affect user’s intention to visit the stores, such that consumers who perceive their brand experience as more consistent with their self-image are more likely to consider purchasing the brand in the real world. The results suggest that some consumers may tend to behave in ways that are congruent with their self-identity across marketing channels.

While consumer culture theory (CCT) has contributed to establishing the cultural grounding of consumer experience it has not emphasized to the same extent the role of embodiment in shaping experience. Indeed culture plays a significant role in shaping bodily habits, skills, practices and our interactions with the environment, but such embodied skills do not restrict and limit the range of meaning and experiences that we can experience. Taking this perspective, the present paper attempts to argue for the creative power of this embodied dimension. More specifically, consumer experience is viewed as a body-world interplay, as affordance-responsiveness in and to a social, cultural and material environment the outcome of which cannot be defined in advance. Whereas CCT has tended to regard the body as the target of culture and discourse, an embodied approach highlights how the body is also the locus of new expressions, meaning and new experiences. The paper ends with discussions, implications and suggestions for further studies.

Terror management theory (TMT) highlights the impact of death related thoughts on consumers’ decisions in everyday life (Hayes, Schimel, Arndt, & Faucher, 2010) and the various coping behaviors they adopt to manage this terror-related anxiety. Individuals exposed to man-made (e.g. terrorist attacks, wars) or natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis) are obliged to mitigate the awareness of their eventual death or mortality salience (MS). MS plays a significant role in shaping individuals consumption behaviors, particularly in terms of materialism and ethnocentrism. This study aims to address (1) how MS-induced feelings impact consumers’ consumption criteria, preferences and behaviors, and (2) what contextual and cultural factors ought to be considered in this regard. Nineteen focus groups in total were conducted in Japan, Lebanon and the UK. Based on grounded theory approach, we found that consumers’ feelings based on their traumatic experiences exhibit some similarities and differences depending on their own historical, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. Future research should include more countries and take into account a variety of cultural backgrounds. Moreover, as Japan, Lebanon and the UK represent three of the most prominent religions, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity respectively, religiosity may be a relevant concept in defining and interpreting MS in a cross-cultural context.